Text by ARATI PERIYANNAN and MAYA MUKHERJEE
Should the booster be required? Paly opinions on county’s booster vaccine requirement for schools
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anta Clara County changed its definition of vaccination to include booster shots in addition to the first two shots of a COVID-19 vaccine. The mandate goes into effect in July and will be required for students to attend public schools. We approached Palo Alto High School students and staff to gauge their opinions on the revised mandate. Here’s what they had to say: “I think everyone should be vaccinated and boosted to prevent the spread of COVID. Anecdotally, I do not have any students who are choosing to not get vaccinated and boosted. I know I have students who are not allowed to, so I think it would be positive because they would have to be vaccinated to come to school. That would encourage their parents and guardians to make the right choice for the health of the student.” — LIZZIE DEKRAAI, English teacher
Photo: Arati Periyannan
“People should be vaccinated and boosted so that kids aren’t getting sick, and it’s safer for the teachers who don’t really have a choice. I can understand why people are like ‘Oh, my freedom’ but like, come on, just be safe, you know?” — MADS ERNST, junior Photo: Arati Periyannan
“The county requiring a booster shot is just a natural progression. We’ve kind of departed from the two vaccination requirements, and I think definitely by now three vaccinations should be the standard and I feel like its just kind of common sense and it increases my feeling of safety in the community.” — JONAS PAO, junior Photo: Maya Mukherjee
Photo courtesy of Gal Shoval
“I think some people might be upset about it, but it’s a smart precaution that should be taken. We’ve seen how many COVID cases we had in the last month alone, so we should be doing everything we can to prevent it from happening again. I don’t think it should affect Paly in any way. As long as people follow the precautions, we should all be able to go on with our lives like we did before.” — GAL SHOVAL, freshman
“I support the mandate because I think it’s important that people get vaccinated. This way, we can keep as many people safe as possible. Especially in the school setting where students are in classrooms together every day, it’s even more important that we stop the spread of COVID. Hopefully after people get their third shot, less people will get COVID, and we can keep more people healthy.” — POLINA VAN HULSEN, freshman Photo: Maya Mukherjee
6 April 2022
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